Photo, left: Christian martyrs burned at the stake by Ranavalona I in Madagascar.  See Hour 1, Block D, Pastor Bill Devlin on the two Christian pastors, Yat Michael and Peter Yen, on trial in Khartoum, Sudan, under threat of execution
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-hosts:  Mary Kissel, Wall Street Journal editorial board & host of OpinionJournal.com.  Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents.
 
Hour One
Thursday  18 June 2015  / Hour 1, Block A: Mary Kissel, WSJ, in re: 
Thursday  18 June 2015  / Hour 1, Block B:  Edward W Hayes, criminal defense attorney par excellence, in re: "The injured officer fired two rounds, striking the suspect in the torso. The knife was recovered at the scene."  --"You're supposed to shoot before, not after, you’re cut: put hand in holster, pull the flap, instruct the person to stop, not move. If you're in danger of being killed and he moves, you're supposed to shoot."   Don't engage in pro-active policing . . . Both Bratton and Kelly are friends of mine. Yes, Kelly is attacking DeBlasio, a nationwide movement against cops. With a decline in law enforcement, more civilians will be hurt. A choice has been made to protect criminals more than the general citizenry. . . .  There are lot in gangs, but a lot who are not.  It's starting to get out of control  Mayor needs Plan B.  There are many more guns on the street now than before, and there'll be a lot more hold-ups. Lead to more fear, injuries to innocent people _ a terrible trend.
"Kelly is right - the next step will be an increase in gun robberies."  NYPD NEWSVerified account‏@NYPDnews The injured officer fired two rounds striking the suspect in the torso. The knife was recovered at the scene.
Thursday  18 June 2015  / Hour 1, Block C: Lara M Brown, George Washington University, in re:  Gun laws around the country; the mass tragedy in Charleston, South Carolina.  "This kind of mass violence doesn’t occur in other countries"—Pres Obama.  Second Amendment rights, wrong-headed inferences; Democrats and Republicans.   Pontsettias at Christmastime? – Jeb Bush runs; looking very trim and active, on Paleo diet, ready to go; a good beginning."   "Here it goes," said the Euros, "the two dynasties."  Historically, the Adams families, the Roosevelts – but a sense of the back-to-back nature of it and no change. In Florida, Rubio has to beat Bush and Bush has to beat Rubio.  Bush is a geeky guy; Rubio is a natural retail pol and enjoys deadpanning his jokes. Bush might make a great president but he's stiff. What'll matter is e ither can chalk up wins prior to Florida (15 March – the Ides of March [someone has a dry sense of humor]).  Dan Henninger: "a bar-stool bloviator."  Donald Trump enters the fray. Is that real? Has he filed the appropriate FEC paperwork? If not, it's bogus. And actors were paid $50 each to cheer at the announcement.  Mrs Clinton's announcement last Saturday was also a bit theatrical. Note that Mrs C does still have to deal with the Secret Service, which is genuinely restrictive.
BeHeardProject.com
Thursday  18 June 2015  / Hour 1, Block D: Pastor William Devlin, Infinity Bible Church, REDEEM!, Right to Worship NYC, in re: The gov of Sudan chooses to persecute citizens of South Sudan.  Two Christian pastors, Yat Michael and Peter Yen (both born in Khartoum), on trial in Khartoum, Sudan, under threat of execution for having spake Christian text. Two hearings this week – provided no new evidence concerning the seven charges against the men –  and the trial began again today and now is delayed till 25 July. Pastors recently transferred to the ghastly prison named Cooper or Cober. Group of pastors flying over 1 August in support of Yat Michael and Peter Yen.  BeHeardProject.com  If they were convicted, three capital crimes – including "undermining the constitution" which calls for religious freedom! – could give them life imprisonment or death.  Do Sudanese now that this makes them look very bad to the world? Yes, but there 's a rift – one side wants to join the community of nations, the other side of the ruling National Congress Party hold that their role is to persecute Christians. I've been going back and forth for the last years as the guest of the foreign minister The men are prepared to be martyred,
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Trial of two pastors to restart Thursday in Khartoum  (Radio Tamazuj) The trial of the two South Sudanese pastors arrested in Khartoum will restart on 18 June, according to an attorney of the two men.  A court previously listened to the prosecutor and a witness against the pastors but did not make a final judgment.  The attorney defending the two pastors said the process is going well.  Relatives of the two pastors said the church leaders were in chains and have been placed in separate cells in Khartoum's Kober Prison.  “This is more and clear persecution to them,” a relative said. “Please let's keep praying for God help to our brothers in chains."
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Sudanese pastors on trial may be condemned to death for preaching by Gregory Tomlin | 27 May, 2015 / After five months in a secret detention center, the trial of two Sudanese pastors charged with fomenting dissension and inciting hatred among religious sects has begun, the Sudan Tribune has reported.  According to the paper, which publishes from Paris, Yat Michael and Peter Yen, both pastors in the South Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church, were arrested after conducting church services at the Khartoum North Church by officials with Sudan's feared National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS).  Michael, who was visiting Sudan, was arrested Dec. 21, 2014. Yen was arrested Jan. 11 after he was summoned to report to the NISS's offices.  “This is their habit to pull down the church. We are not surprised. This is the way they deal with the church.” - Pastor Tut Kony, Presbyterian Evangelical Church Sources inside the NISS said the two were being held as spies working for "foreign bodies" and collecting information on Sudan's national security infrastructure. Some of the charges are punishable by death, the paper said.  One police investigator told the court Yen's computer contained demographic information on Sudan, including detailed reports about the population, coordinates, literacy rates and electrical coverage – information missionaries commonly have on hand when working in a foreign country.  The Presbyterian Church (USA), which partners with the South Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church, called on its members to pray for the two pastors. According to a statement on the denomination's website, the PC(USA) issued an alert claiming the church was experiencing significant challenges as the result of decades of civil war, ethnic and religious strife.
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Hour Two
Thursday  18 June 2015  / Hour 2, Block A: Tony Badran, Foundation for Defense of Democracies, in re:   Syria and Druze. The minorities of the Middle East have provided stability across the middle east for the last century, are critical components Al Nusrah in Idlib province; photos of huge explosion you could see fro the Israel side of the Golan border, in Druze territory. "Sightseeing" from the border is not new – but Israeli Druze are watching their relatives under bombings.   This is the northern tip of the Kuneitra district, in regime hands. IRGC have positions, rebels trying to clear it out, along with another push at the edges of the Soweito? district.  A Tunisian and his group massacred 20 Druze, issued an apology for killing of a heterodox Muslim sect -  a rare political event.  Druze leader in Lebanon labelled it an aberrant act.   What goes in the north in Idlib is different fro what it is in the south, where Druze are more numerous, have extensions into Israel and Jordan; tribal and clan make-up here. Walid Jumblatt has miraculously survived all these years.  Iranians have been trying to set u an infrastructure in Southern Syria that's heavily dependent on Druze, set up a "popular militia" – but in March Jordanian visibly mobilized against an attack on a village, kicked 'em out,. Coincided with a Saudi and a Turkish drive, concerted regional effort vs Iranians. Were the Druze to serve as a forward base against rebels and Israel ad Jordan, it'd be suicidal. 
Thursday  18 June 2015  / Hour 2, Block B: Michael Eisenstadt is the Kahn Fellow and director of The Washington Institute's Military and Security Studies Program;  in re:  Fpr three days in a row at State Dept briefings, Kerry spoke of PMD and said he didn’t mean what he'd said  about years of knowledge of Iranian weaponizing. IAEA report put some but by no means all info on the table. Uneven track record with WMD intell around the world, so IAEA needs to sit down with Iranianas and get questions answered, but Kerry said "We won't be fixated on the past" – and without knowledge of the past cannot get forward. Sen Corker's letter. Admin refers not to be encumbered by Congress.  Concerning dealing with Iran from the inside: this and past Administrations have ignored the will f the Iranian people, who clearly don't support the ayatollahs in their war-making. "Soft power" is what the ayatollahs fear most – counter revolution! Under G W Bush, there was no major incident of domestic unrest; then, under his successor, committed to hands of friendship with ayatollahs, occurred the 2009 Green Revolution, which the ayatollahs put down brutally and cruelly.  US has soft power assets but Iranian people lack the stomach to go to the streets again in view of their regime's cruelty and zero help from the US or West.  30 June, no agreement – but some money may be released, although not the whole $150 billion threatened by the Obama Administration.
Thursday  18 June 2015  / Hour 2, Block C: J. Matthew McInnis, resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute; in re:  John Kerry made remarks on Monday, backtracked on Tuesday; what's he saying? "We’re not fixated on Iran specifically accounting for what they did at one time or another . . ."  He called Lindsay Graham to apologize, of course he sanctions won't be lifted till there's clarity on Iran's weaponization efforts.   Will need a creative solution to Iran's proclaiming that it's in nuclear weapons research. Problem is, everyone knows that no one can have confidence about he future while ignorant of where we are now.  We expected the Secretary of State to try to weasel verbally, but this was shocking. All the measurables depend on having the PMD information.  My personal fear is that we'll have limited access to some mil sites but very controlled. Absent snap inspections, we must walk away from this deal.  Not access to Parchin nuclear engineers, stockpiles, evidence, testimony – none of this will happen.  Supreme Leader's imminent, not imminent death? (Probably two years or less because of his cancer.) We don't have a good history of influence in Iran without blowback.  We get lost in internal factions. Twelvers have total contort of he Cabinet – the IRGC?  Those around the Supreme Leader are heavily influenced by IRGC; Rouhani's run for the presidency n 2013 showed a need to rebalance. It's been happening to some extent, but IRGC's job is to protect the state – I Don't see them taking over , although can't rule it out entirely.  I suspect that the next regime may be harsher.   It was not US intell that garnered most of the info – it was from defectors! 
Thursday  18 June 2015  / Hour 2, Block D:  Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re:   . . . Chief of UNRWA, always hostile to Israel . . . Hamas smuggling in cement – 4,000 tones per day- to Gaza to build no more tunnels. ISIS (Da'ish) has growing support in Gaza.   PA dissolving the putatively joint govt with Hamas.   . . . A new flotilla to Gaza.  Erdogan lost badly in elections – will he support the next flotilla as a diversion, or be gingerly in vie w of his precarious political situation? French PM said, "It's time for you guys to stop hiding behind anti-Semitism" – and some imams came forward.  Sweden was obliged to drop its support of BDS.  Michael Oren wrote that Pres Obama deliberately sabotaged US-Israeli relations.  Fifty per cent of Israelis agree.
 
Hour Three
Thursday  18 June 2015  / Hour 3, Block A: Andrew Roberts, author, Napoleon  (part IV of IV), segment  1 of 4
Thursday  18 June 2015  / Hour 3, Block B: Andrew Roberts, author, Napoleon  (part IV of IV), segment 2  of 4
Thursday  18 June 2015  / Hour 3, Block C: Andrew Roberts, author, Napoleon  (part IV of IV), segment 3  of 4
Thursday  18 June 2015  / Hour 3, Block D: Andrew Roberts, author, Napoleon  (part IV of IV), segment  4 of 4
 
Hour Four
Thursday  18 June 2015  / Hour 4, Block A: John Bolton, AEI & Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, in re:  What 'snapback' mechanism in the Iranian deal? It's 'a fatal defect under a different walnut shell'  The Security Council's five permanent members and Germany, discussing Iran's nuclear-weapons program, have reportedly agreed on a mechanism intended to reactivate United Nations economic sanctions if Tehran breaches the deal currently under negotiation. Iran now is apparently reviewing the proposal.
Thursday  18 June 2015  / Hour 4, Block B:  Harry Siegel, New York Daily News, in re:  When Ray Kelly or anyone warns that unless we stop lots of black kids, many of them will die, don’t buy it. Batman, who would know, famously called criminals “a superstitious, cowardly lot.”
Thursday  18 June 2015  / Hour 4, Block C:  Robert Zimmerman, behindtheblack.com, and author, Genesis, in re: Active lava flows found on Venus Cool image time! Using archival data from Venus Express, scientists have identified several spots on Venus where it appears there are active lava flows.
Using a near-infrared channel of the spacecraft’s Venus Monitoring Camera (VMC) to map thermal emission from the surface through a transparent spectral window in the planet’s atmosphere, an international team of planetary scientists has spotted localised changes in surface brightness between images taken only a few days apart. “We have now seen several events where a spot on the surface suddenly gets much hotter, and then cools down again,” says Eugene Shalygin from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany, and lead author of the paper reporting the results in Geophysical Research Letters this month. “These four ‘hotspots’ are located in what are known from radar imagery to be tectonic rift zones, but this is the first time we have detected that they are hot and changing in temperature from day to day. It is the most tantalising evidence yet for active vulcanism.”
The hotspots are found along the Ganiki Chasma rift zone close to the volcanoes Ozza Mons and Maat Mons. Rift zones are results of fracturing of the surface, which is often associated with upwelling of magma below the crust. This process can bring hot material to the surface, where it may be released through fractures as a lava flow. There have been hints of volcanic activity on Venus since Pioneer Venus Orbiter first circled the planet from 1978 to 1992. This appears to be the first solid evidence of it.
Thursday  18 June 2015  / Hour 4, Block D:   Bruce Webster, AndStillIPersist.com, in re: Data security, fed. bureaucracy style:  "Attackers had valid user credentials & run of network" arstechnica.com/security/2015/… pic.twitter.com/dBWNr6XNfH – and more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2015/06/18/reacting-to-chinese-hack-the-government-may-not-have-followed-its-own-cybersecurity-rules/?hpid=z5
In responding to China’s massive hack of federal personnel data, the government may have run afoul of computer security again. Over the last nine days, the the Office of Personnel Management has sent e-mail notices to hundreds of thousands of federal employees to notify them of the breach and recommend that they click on a link to a private contractor’s Web site to sign up for credit monitoring and other protections.
But those e-mails have been met with increasing alarm by employees — along with retirees and former employees with personal data at risk — who worry that the communications may be a form of “spear phishing” used by adversaries to penetrate sensitive government computer systems. After the Defense Department raised a red flag about the e-mails its 750,000 civilian employees were starting to receive, OPM officials said late Wednesday that the government had suspended its electronic notifications this week.
 
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